Rope fastener



Aug. 25, '1959 Filed Jan. 2l, 1954 ROPE FASTENER Harry A. Pearson,Wilmette, Ill.

Application January 21, 1954, Serial No. 405,437

2 Claims. (Cl. 24-128) This invention relates to a rope fastener, andmore particularly to a fastener for securing the permanently knotted endof `a rope to a structure, vessel, vehicle, or the like without havingto tie the rope in any manner.

This invention may be used for securing the mooring line of a boat to adock, seeming such a line to the boat itself, or attaching a clotheslineto a clothespole, or similar purposes.l

The disadvantages of having lto secure the end of a line by tying it toa structure are obvious such as the time required for tying and untying,the necessity of using a special kind of knot in order to be assured ofa reliable fastening, and the diiculty of untying the knot after anyconsiderable stress has been put on it.

When the mooring line of a boat is involved, there is the additionaldisadvantage that attaching the line to a iixed mooring or structuresuch as a cleat or bollard will produce some strain in either the ropeor the boat, or both, whenever the tossing or swaying motion of the boatcauses it to jerk against the mooring.

This invention avoids all these diiculties and disadvantages, andprovides a means for fastening a rope or other line which is quick,easy, and at the same time reliable and provides for a resilientconnection.

The invention will be described in relation to the embodiments shown inthe accompanying drawings. ln the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of this invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the `same embodiment, taken along line2-2 in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of another embodiment of this invention;and

Figure 4 is a plan viewv of the embodiment of Figure 3.

The rope fastener of Figure 1 comprises a single length of resilientWire of relatively high tensile strength and is provided with a knotholder portion fashioned at one end of this length of wire. The generalconfiguration of the knot holder of this embodiment can be seen byreading Figures 1 and 2 together. n

The knot holder may of course be of any suitable shape, so long as it islarge enough .to hold the rope to be fastened, `and at the same timesmall enough to prevent a knot permanently tied in the end yof the ropefrom slipping through- H If desired, the knotted end ofthe rope may beprovided with a washer or sleeve of some durable material to preventwear on the knot, or the rope :adjacent thereto, when ECC 2 the top isturned downwardly to provide an internal central post 16.

While the spring shown in 'Figure 1 is conical in shape it may of coursebe helical, elliptical in cross section, or if any other suitable designthat would provide guide channels for the rope when it is wound aroundthe rope fastener as described below.

The spacing betweenadjacent turns of coil spring 11 is approximatelyequal to the diameter of the rope which is .to be fastened. In apreferred embodiment, the spaces are somewhat less than the diameter ofthe rope. For reasons explained below, the spacing may be made smallestat the part of the coil nearest the knot holder.

The device is attached at its bottom to the dock, boat, post, or otherstructure, vessel, vehicle, etc., to which the rope is to be fastened.Any suitable means of attaching the coil spring may be employed so longas it is strong enough. In Figures l and 2, the bottom of thevcoil isattached by a plurality of clips 12 and screws 13.

The bottom of core 16 may be fixed to the base plate or to thestructure, vessel, vehicle, etc., .to which the fastener is attached.However, in a preferred embodiment the bottom of the core is restrainedonly against transverse movement. For example, the bottom of core 16 maybe positioned in cavity 17, as shown in Figure 1, so that it can move upor down but is substantially entirely restrained from movement in anydirection transverse to its axis. The advantage to this is that whenstress is placed on core `16 in a direction perpendicular to its axis,the top of the core can bend in the direction of the stress and thebottom of the core is free to move up and down.

Another way of yachieving this desirable flexibility in core 16 is byfixing only the bottom of the core and leaving the top unrestrained, asin the embodiment of Figures 3 and 4.

The flexibility of core 16 provides one of the advantages of thisinvention by minimizing the effect on the rope (and the boat, in case ofa mooring line) of sudden jerks applied to the rope. Y

The degree of flexibility of the core should be kept from being toolarge in any embodiment in which the knot holder is positioned at ornear the bottom of coil ll-otherwise too much stress will be placed onthe knot holder when the core bends in the direction of the pull of therope. Y

With a flexible coil and with knot holder 10 at or near the bottom ofvthe coil, the rope fastener must be installed so that the knot holderis on the opposite side of the fastener from the direction of lthegreatest pull on the rope. For example, when the rope fastener of thisinvention is used as a mooring device, knot holder 10 should be placedon the shore side of the dock. If knot holder 10 is placed on the waterside of the dock, and

' if core 16 and coil spring 11 are too flexible, the top part of therope fastener may be bent so far in the direction of the water that thepurchase of knot holder 10 on the knot could be somewhat loosened.

In the form of this invention illustrated in Figures and 4, the knotholder portion is formed at the top of the device rather than at thebottom. In this modification a U-shaped knot holder portion 10 isfashioned at the top yof the device by so forming the wire after which-the wire is coiled down in a conical spiral 111 and at the bottom coilis brought upwardly through the center to provide a center post 16, theupper end of which is bent outwardly over the top convolution of thecoil. In this -form the bottom convolution 14 of the coil may be weldedto a base plate 15 and the base plate may-be attached to the desiredstructure by means of a plurality of screws. To use the rope fastener ofthis invention, the rope to be fastened is lirst placed in knot holder10 and the knotted end is pulled snugly against the holder. The lengthof rope adjacent the knotted end is then passed at least once, andpreferably several times, around the core by passing it through theadjacent turns of the spring coil. The rope may then be released fromthe users hand, and will remain rmly attached to the rope fastener untilit is released by unwinding the rope.

Both the fastening and unfastening processes are obviously donc veryeasily and very quickly.

It is only necessary to keep the knotted end of the rope tautly heldagainst the knot holder, in order to insure proper operation of thisrope fastener. For this purpose, the rope wrapped around the core is ofcourse not required to provide enough friction to resist the pull uponthe line exerted by the boat, the weight on the clothesline, or otherstress upon the line. All that is necessary is that there be enoughfriction to keep the knot snugly engaged in knot holder.

In addition to the friction between the core and the rope wrapped aroundit, there are two other sources of tension which act upon the rope endto keep Vthe knot snugly engaged in the holder. Obviously there is noproblem when stress is placed upon the line, as this only tightens therope about the core, and when the additional pressure is transmitted tothe knotted end this tightens the engagement of the knot in the holder.If the rope is permitted to sag, however, the rope fastener of thisinvention also avoids permitting the rope to become so loosened that theknotted end can work its way out of knot holder 10. Y

One of the two sources of pressure that avoid such a loosening of therope is the following:

Any loosening of the rope will first result in a sag in that Vpart ofthe rope length which is within the coil spring. This sag will tend tokeep the rope from working its way loose from the core. This in turnkeeps the knot snug against the knot holder.

The second source of pressure is derived from the spacing of adjacentturns of the coil spring. The adjacent turns may be spaced apart justSlightly less than the diameter of the rope to be fastened. The adjacentturns will then grasp the rope where it enters the space within the coilspring and also where it'leaves that space. Even though the pressurethus exerted on the rope is very slight, it will be enough to avoid anyloosening of the rope from the core when the line lies slack, and thusto avoid any loosening of the knot in knot holder 10.

It is to be noticed that the force exerted on the rope by the pressureof adjacent turns f the coil spring is of course not required to be sogreat as to resist the greatest tension on the rope when it is pulledtaut, but rather simply to resist the slight force produced by thesagging weight of the line when it is slackened.

If desired, adjacent turns may be more closely spaced, as justdescribed, at only one point. Ordinarily this point would be chosen tobe the point where the rope enters the space within the coil afterleaving the knot holder-@which will generally be at that part of thecoil Spring nearest the knot holder.

As will be seen, the rope holder of this invention may be used on anyline or rope, no matter of what material it is made, so long as it isexible enough to be Wound at least once around the core. This will ofcourse be affected by the diameter of the core.

The diameter of the rope or line with which this rope fastener is usablemay range between very Wide 4 The upper limit may be considerablygreater than the spacing between adjacent turns of the coil springbecause of the flexibility of the coil-lso long as the knot holder isdesigned to take that large a rope or line. The lower limit may beconsiderably less than the spacing between turns of the coil, so long asthe knot on the end of the rope or line is made large enough (or issupplemented by use of a washer that is large enough) that it will notslip through the knot holder.

lt will be seen that a single rope fastener may be designed for use witha variety of sizes of rope or line. A preferred fastener of this kindhas a coil spring with a large number of turns which have spacingbetween them ranging from quite small spacing at one end to quite largeat the other.

The above detailed description of this invention is given for clearnessof understanding only. No unnecessary limitations should be understoodtherefrom7 as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in theart..

l claim:

1. A rope fastener for securing a rope having a knot formed therein,said fastener comprising: an arcuate knot-holding arm having an openingat least as large as said rope and of lesser size than the formed knotfor restricting movement of the rope beyond the knot withoutnecessitating tying the rope thereto, said opening of said arcuateknot-holding arm being U-shaped and capable of receiving a rope which isinserted laterally therein, a spirally wound flexible upstanding coilsecured to said knot-holding portion and extending in spaced relationthereto, said coil being adapted to receive and frictionally engage therope beyond its formed knot when the rope passes through adjacentconvolutions of said coil, said adjacent convolutions being spaced aparta distance not exceeding the diameter of the rope, an upstanding postextending substantially axially of and internally to said coil, saidpost being substantially centrally positioned in spaced relation toconvolutions of the coil and being adapted to receive at least one turnof the rope, and a base secured to one end of the coil to form a supportmeans therefor, said fastener serving to securely retain a knotted ropewithout necessitating tying the rope to the fastener by the combinedaction of saidV knot-holding portion that prevents movement therethroughof the rope beyond said' knot, the said spirally wound coil fn'ctionallyengaging the rope when the rope passes through adjacent convolutions,`and the said centrally positioned post that frictionally receives atleast one turn of the rope Wound thereon.

2. The rope fastener of claim 1 wherein said arcuate knot-holding arm ispositioned at and secured to one end of said'upstanding coil and saidupstanding post is exible.

ReferencesCted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.34,263 Bailey Mar. 26, 1901 128,526 Blackstone July 2, 1872 363,276Brinkerhot May 17, 1887 1,097,443 Kalat May 19, 1914 1,152,705 ChurchillSept. 7, 1915 1,222,887 Pearson Apr. 17, 1917 2,642,025 Swonger June 16,1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 70,868 switzerland Apr.` 1, 1916 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFCE @Mmmm Patent Nm 2,900, 689

August 25 y 1959 Harry A0 Pearson t is Jcierebjr certified that errorappears in theprinted specification of the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the seid,v Letters Patent should read ascorrected below.

Column 2, line 58, after "Figures," insert the mineral -3 D Signed andsealed this 10th day of May 1960 (SEAL) Attest:

ROBERT C. WATSON KARL He AXLNE Commissioner of Patents Attestingy Oicer

